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The roads of Great Wyrley in Staffordshire have about 145 road humps. Many of the ‘features’ have been installed outside the defined dimensions and some are so far outside reasonable tolerances they require ‘RAMP’ warning signs. We also have 7 Gatso Cash Scameras, and a Speed Camera Van that visits at least twice per week. In addition, Staffordshire Police use portable laser guns to ‘help combat speeding motorists in Great Wyrley’!

It has been announced that 10 full width humps will be removed, due to being placed in areas that had no accidents prior to installation and none in the 6 years since. Another 10 full width humps will be amended to speed cushions. There will also be an ongoing review of the rest of the scheme. As the late Paul Smith of SafeSpeed reiterated, "First they ignore you, then they mock you, then they fight you, then you win." (Mahatma Gandhi)

One of our disappearing humps

We gratefully acknowledge the recent assistance by Bright Consultancy to our campaign. A multi-award winning agency which can be contacted at: http://www.bright-consultancy.co.uk/index.htm

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Staffordshire County Council has another medal to hang on their wall. 1). The Sunday Times for 21/04/02 confirmed that the most photographed stretch of highway in England, the A34, went through Great Wyrley with its 7 speed cameras. 2). A road hump in Tower View Road, Great Wyrley is top of the list of 'Worst Road Humps in Britain' drawn up by Continental Tyres. The following explains why:

towerview2

A pair of innocuous looking humps, shown above, in Tower View Road, Great Wyrley has been constructed in a slight dip. However, they are the third attempt at this location. The top left inset shows one of the humps after only a few months, it has been so badly damaged that a complete new top was inserted. This soon degraded again as shown, so finally both humps were completely reconstructed again from road level. The top right inset shows regular flooding which occurs several times a year, during which time the humps are just visible or more usually disappear beneath the water. The main picture also shows patches of oil just beyond the humps, where yet another car sump has been damaged.

aprhump1

Staffordshire County Council's Household Survey, Dec 2002, stated that 58% of car owners reported hump damage to the underside of their vehicles to exhausts, suspension components, steering, brakes, etc.

Large cracks in roads and pavements with white painted lines

Road damage close to a hump

Following the publication of the Department for Transport’s Road Casualties Great Britain 2005, it is clear that the claim that, ‘one third of accidents caused by speeding’, is completely indefensible. It is only now that accurate facts, as opposed to supposition, are available and only 5% of accidents have excessive speed as a primary contributory factor. The majority of road accidents are a mix of other causes, such as ‘failed to look properly’, ‘road/environment’, ‘following too close’, etc. rather than down to the simplistic catchall of excessive speed.

The figures also make clear that taking a child to school by car is far safer than the child walking or cycling. Official figures also show that in 1999 there were 55 fatalities on the roads of Staffordshire, while during 2005 fatalities have risen to 59. Millions are spent every year on scameras and humps without a reduction in fatalities since 1999.

One of the claims for the Safer Routes to School Scheme was a reduction in the number of personal injury accidents for the area. Accident levels however, remained the same, before and after the Great Wyrley humps were installed, (SCC’s own figures shown below). Recently released figures from Staffordshire County Council, show that there has been no reduction in the total number of injury accidents for the Great Wyrley area, as the following table shows:

Total recorded

injury accidents

Before (3 years)

TMS Review, Sec 2.1

(June 1996-May 1999)

After (3 years)

(Sep 03-Sep 2006)

By their very nature, road humps are a distraction for drivers. Accident rates in Barnet, London have fallen dramatically due to the removal of all speed humps and cushions. Many drivers were, as in Great Wyrley, accelerating and braking for the humps making the roads far more dangerous. Official figures for Barnet show that casualties fell by 14.9% compared to the previous year. Cycle accidents were down 13.3% compared to the London average of 6.2%.

We also have 2 new Speed Indicator Signs on the A34 close to one of the speed scameras. Oh no we don't, two weeks and they've gone! We didn't even have time to get a photograph, you will just have to use your imagination.

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